If someone is bitten in Germany, then usually by a dog, usually it hits a child and usually the child knows the dog. Often the dog even lives in the own household. Even actually harmless housemates occasionally snap. Especially if they are disturbed while eating, frightened or teased by a child, although they actually want to have their peace. Probably rare – but still the most dangerous – are incidentally human bites, because the human mouth flora contains about 40 different bacteria.
First measures after a bite injury
If a bite injury occurs in a child, you should always consult a doctor, because the tetanus protection must be checked and refreshed if necessary (take the vaccination book with you!). It is also important to ask whether the animal has been vaccinated against rabies.
Here applies: In case of doubt, the bitten child must be vaccinated against rabies. With a quick vaccination, the body still has enough time to form antibodies, so that the outbreak of the disease is prevented.
Attention: In rabies areas, a protective vaccination must be carried out after each bite injury by an unknown or wild animal. Because there is no therapy against rabies and the disease, once it has broken out, always ends fatally!
By the way, rabies vaccination is not necessary for mouse bites, because mice do not get rabies.
What to do in case of minor injuries?
Fortunately, most bites are minor injuries and cause only skin abrasions and bruising; no bleeding occurs. The injury is cleaned with water and a wound disinfectant and then dried. However, it should continue to be checked for bleeding and swelling.
How are open wounds treated?
In open bite wounds, the top layer of skin is destroyed; the wound also bleeds. Again, the wound should be cleaned immediately and covered with sterile compresses (car bandages) until it is examined by a doctor. Large bite wounds must be sterilely covered and bandaged until attended to by a physician; arm and leg wounds should only be loosely wrapped and elevated. If bleeding is more severe, bandages are wrapped more tightly over sterile dressings.
- Bite canals, such as those that occur in cat bites, are not closed.
- Openly treated are also wounds older than twelve hours.
- Large, fresh wounds and bite wounds on the face you sew up.
Unfortunately, bite wounds often become infected. This is because many germs live in the saliva. Children under two years or patients with bite wounds on the hands or in the eye area therefore receive preventive antibiotics. Older bite wounds (12 to 24 hours) are also usually treated with antibiotics.
Cat bites
Cat bites occur much less frequently than other bite injuries; only 5 to 15 percent of all cases involve a cat. Nevertheless, they pose a particular danger. This is because cats’ teeth are thin and sharp, causing deep puncture wounds that easily become infected. Therefore, an antibiotic is also usually given for cat bites. Often in the cat bite joints and tendons are also injured.
Snake bites
The adder is the only snake dangerous to humans that occurs in our latitudes. If a snake has bitten, the first maxim is to immobilize the affected body part. This is because severe poisoning occurs mainly when the affected person moves a lot after the bite. Measures such as bandaging or ice compresses are forbidden because they damage the tissue. Also the statement of the wound harms more than it helps, because the poison is distributed thereby in the body. Treatment is among other things with an antiserum.
Caution: In severe cases (about every tenth adder bite) the limb swells and becomes discolored. Severe pain occurs. In the worst cases, breathing difficulties and shock may occur.
